


Chrysalis

by FHC_Lynn



Series: Metamorphose [3]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 15:56:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10947828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FHC_Lynn/pseuds/FHC_Lynn
Summary: Starscream's habit of breaking things may have actually worked out this time.





	Chrysalis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NotAnEvilMastermind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotAnEvilMastermind/gifts).



> Many thanks to NotAnEvilMastermind for asking for this!

There were days when his life felt like the middle of an old, trashy frontier novel.

Not the beginning or the end. Stuck in medias res, Starscream went through the motions of everyday life without the promise of a conclusion. He had thought he would find one by now. Or maybe he had believed in a new beginning with the resurrection of a much loved element to his last story?

The new middle of his story limped onward.

Skyfire continued from a new beginning; his first tale ended, in his mind, with his crash. He had accepted his death in the last moments of consciousness. Waking up had come as a surprise. Longing for the story that had never truly been, Starscream had wanted Skyfire with him.

But Starscream, like his story, had changed so very much.

Locked in ice through the ages, Skyfire had not. Time had weathered his body, yes. This planet’s constantly shifting chemistry had done Skyfire no good. While Hook had done his best, Ratchet had trained in healing Cybertronian _lives_ , not dumb machines. Skyfire looked beautiful again. Young. Full of faith, hope, and excitement for a new world.

Full of sadness, too, for a world they had crippled to death while he slept.

Starscream told himself that he saw no signs of his own aging. Grooves and scratches were there, however, when honesty snuck up on him, in the middle of a rest cycle. The dust of the ages lived without his still young friend sifted through his mind. Memories no sane mech should live to carry danced through his processor and reflected in his optics. Every time Skyfire looked at him, there was a moment of surprise. In those moments, Starscream could admit how much he had changed with a cold, creeping dread.

He wanted so much to reach across that gulf of time.

He wasn’t Skyfire’s Starscream any longer. Not really. That Starscream had also died in the ice, dreaming of what might have been. What remained of Starscream still loved Skyfire. Deeply, fiercely. He wanted it to be enough.

He had broken his world apart a third time on that chance.

Prime’s people didn’t want Starscream among them. They questioned Skyfire and glared at Starscream. When Thundercracker and Skywarp had shown up demanding asylum, they had glared at Starscream, too. Megatron, it seemed, had not been pleased their commander had flitted off in the name of love. They had not been pleased to have been abandoned. The Autobots were not pleased to play host to this mad little melodrama, eons in the making. It seemed the lack of resolution to anything in his life spread outwards, infecting everything he touched.

Starscream wondered if he even knew how to make a good decision.

One year into a new, never-ending middle and conditionally free to stroll around with Skyfire, Starscream had practiced surreptitiously snagging Skyfire’s hand. He pointedly ignored Prowl’s goons who followed them everywhere. The red one snickered at every softer gesture Starscream made towards Skyfire. The yellow one only scowled and reset his vocalizer when other Autobots rounded the corners. If Starscream didn’t know better, he would swear the goons meant to help protect their privacy.

He didn’t want to be grateful for their silence on his attempts to cuddle with Skyfire on the sly.

At just this moment, he leaned against the mountain face outside the _Ark_ and listened to Skyfire talk to the intimidatingly calm Beachcomber. The volcano had rumbled beneath the decrepit ship last night. With it already half-buried in an ancient lava flow, Optimus had set Beachcomber to assess the risk of another eruption further compromising what remained of the old ship’s structural integrity. And Skyfire lit up with excitement as Beachcomber asked for his help.

With the nearby hulking goons still a weight on his mind, Starscream straightened away from the rock to stand at Skyfire’s side. He didn’t like to address any of the Autobots directly (they tended to react badly), but exploring new worlds with Skyfire had been his life’s work, once upon a time. He would not be shut out of the chance to have that back now. “Excuse me. Beachcomber, is it? But I’ve found that it’s often easiest to correlate eruptions with rising surface altitude. Have you taken altitude readings of the planetary surface in this area before…?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea, Starscream,” Skyfire said, beaming down at him. He turned his attention back to Beachcomber. “If you haven’t, we should… And then see if the humans have such recordings?”

“I don’t think they have global positioning capabilities yet... But our equipment is way more sensitive than our hosts’, even if they do have it,” Beachcomber said thoughtfully. “Had a lotta call for altitude readings down on the ocean floor, did you?”

“The tectonic activity on this planet is ridiculously high, even in the most stable locations,” Starscream muttered. “But we didn't pick one of _those_. Well, they.”

Beachcomber nodded and politely ignored the slip. Prowl’s goons noticed, narrowing their optics. The red one snorted and nudged his brother’s shoulder. Twins, Starscream remembered learning upon arrival.

And that had explained _so_ much. So, so much.

Beachcomber interrupted Starscream’s thoughts with a chuckle. He grinned up at Starscream, visor flashing in the sun. “It’s a very active world, that’s true. I think it’s pretty exciting. You know, more to study, more to do.”

Starscream reset his vocalizer, remembering again that Beachcomber was a geologist. And he remembered that Cybertron had been dying long before the war killed it. That had been the purpose of his and Skyfire's mission, all that time ago; to seek a living world for their people to take. Starscream wondered if Beachcomber had been trained in that dying era, before desperation sent their people into a conflict that spiraled out of control. Huffing, Starscream turned to study the sparse stubby growth struggling on the ash plain fronting the ship. "Certainly, it's better to have work. But when what gives me work threatens my home, I find it less enjoyable."

"Well, there's that," Beachcomber said. The little mech straightened off of the boulder he had claimed and dusted his backside off before he went on, "So, you going to help me and Skyfire check those altitudes? All fliers have altimeters installed, right? I could certainly use another hand, if you're not busy."

"Wait -- What? I am _not_ \--" Starscream snapped his jaw shut when Skyfire turned to look down at him. He had that _look_ again. Time, so much time, had passed and Skyfire hadn’t changed at all. Starscream struggled not to flinch at the stark reminder of how much he had. He ignored Beachcomber's frown and mumbled, "Of course I will help. What did you have in mind?"

"Well," Beachcomber drawled. That damned visor made his expression impossible to read. Starscream didn't like visors. Or masks. "I think it'd be good to map the local topical magnetism first, and get the altitudes for strong points after that. Even if the native sapients don't have a good baseline for this area, we can begin to spot a trend for ourselves. That's a place to start. I have some appointments at some universities that have strong geology departments, so I’d like to have Skyfire join me. They know more about this world, in specific, than I do, primitive instruments or not. We need to know what to look for. When we get back, we can put a report together for Optimus and Prowl."

"Map the..." Starscream groaned and threw his hands out to gesture wildly at the scrub and silica. "I am not made for stomping around in this organic mess!"

"Star, come on, it's not so bad. You know, I can help clean out your thrusters after," Skyfire chuckled. He rested a big hand on Starscream's shoulder, squeezing once before sliding it down over a sensitive wing. Starscream felt his spark burn behind his canopy.

“But you’re going to be flying him to visit these Earth creatures,” Starscream reminded him peevishly.

“Um… Right… Well, maybe your...friends?” Obviously uncomfortable meeting Starscream’s gaze, Skyfire hunched his shoulders and glanced at Beachcomber. He visibly steeled himself to grin and continue, "It's what we came here for anyway, right? We're just going into more depth than the Senate ever planned on."

“It was our work to explore. I said I’d help. But I can complain about sand in my thrusters. So I can start tomorrow, Beachcomber?”

“Yep. I need to leave with Skyfire this evening, but it’s best if you work in daylight, with the coyotes around here.”

Starscream pursed his lips then nodded, straightening himself under Skyfire's touch. Hearing Prowl's goons groan in the distance, he smirked. Optimus hadn't yet granted him permission to fly, let alone walk anywhere alone. Those insane twins liked pounding through the underbrush no better than he did. And he _knew_ Prowl wouldn't let them trade duties to get out of it.

Maybe Starscream would enjoy this little outing, after all.

Starscream got to see Skyfire and Beachcomber off later that evening. Bright and early the next day, he had kept his word. Hauling Prowl’s goons around the whole day without a break had been its own reward. The downside, of course, sat on an archaic wheeled stool and shouted profanities at him.

He had never met a mech with such a filthy mouth and such gentle hands. The disparity unsettled him, if he were honest. But with ash and mud and organic matter packed up into his thrusters, he desperately needed someone to clean them out. Someone he marginally trusted, though Sunstreaker’s brusque offer had startled Starscream. In fact…

“He wouldn’t let me do it, Ratchet. I offered.”

“I gotta back Sunshine up. Starscream didn’t _have_ to waste your time.”

“Oh, shut it!” the Autobots’ doctor snarled. “Sunstreaker, you might be good with your hands, but a seeker’s flight structures are about as delicate as a Praxian’s auxiliary equipment. And you aren’t familiar with _them_.”

“I figured, and I know I ain’t. But I did put the offer down, so you _don’t_ have to shout,” Sunstreaker growled back. “I was going to be careful.”

Starscream _almost_ admired the bravery Sunstreaker had needed for that; except he was fairly certain it was too strongly related to stupidity.

“Quiet,” Ratchet repeated, lips curled in a snarl. “As for _you_ , Starscream, you are _not_ going back out until Wheeljack makes you some shoes.”

“What in all the Pits are ‘shoes’?” Starscream demanded.

“Humans have things they wear on their own pedes. Keeps them from getting injured. For _you_ , it will keep me from needing to do this again,” Ratchet growled back.

Starscream frowned. Silently, he acknowledged it as a brilliant idea. This world’s fine silica did terrible things to his pedes. Never mind the organic matter. Silence fell as the doctor worked. An hour later, he jumped as the medical suite’s door opened. Tensing, he looked up to see the goons’ master walk in. Prowl gave his pets a quick nod then marched on Starscream and Ratchet.

“Prowl, you better have a good reason to be in my bay.”

“Of course, Officer Ratchet. Beachcomber and Skyfire outlined their plan yesterday. The Prime and I discussed your part this morning, Starscream. We would like to know if Skywarp and Thundercracker would like to participate as well. Their help would accelerate the collection of data.”

“You came to my bay to ask him that?”

“I commed Sideswipe for his location, and he informed me Starscream was here with the results of poor planning. He also mentioned your solution, so I thought it best to come here to request extra pairs of ‘shoes’ as well as to relay the request for Skywarp and Thundercracker’s assistance to Starscream.”

“You -- wait. You mean you’d let them out?” Starscream cycled his optics and straightened up.

“With a guard, certainly. We must still request that you not fly, but flying would be counter to your task.”

“It wouldn’t be counter to travel _between_ locations --”

“Your guards cannot fly. I cannot guarantee your safety even with your assigned guards, but at the least you would not be alone under ambush,” Prowl said. “And that gives a greater chance for each team to summon assistance from the _Ark_.”

Starscream glowered. That damned mech always made it sound like the guards were for his benefit, but Skywarp and Thundercracker hadn’t been allowed out of their cell at all since arriving, even with their guard. Starscream promised himself that he would figure out how to beat the mech at his word games eventually. One way or another.

Turning back to the doctor, he tried to broadcast dismissal at the Prime’s damned secretary.

“I also wish to thank you for your assistance,” the secretary said. “And for your trine’s, if they agree.”

“Since you’re keeping them even more locked up than _me_ , I don’t see why they wouldn’t,” Starscream hissed back.

“They are not locked up --”

“They can’t leave their _cell_!”

“They are in quarters. You understand we are taking a risk simply letting you freely roam the ship --”

“I can’t go back --”

“ -- because many of our mechs have expressed a desire to end your lives. We do not wish to have a situation on the _Ark_ itself.”

Starscream glared at Prowl. Broad not-wings lifted, wiggling, and settled high on his back. Then the not-wings fell slightly. Starscream narrowed his optics at Prowl’s sad, uneasy laughter. But he quieted so Prowl could continue. “We finally have enough vetted volunteers to see to your safety, as much as it is possible, for these trips. It is more difficult to control old angers. This is, at least, a good opportunity to enjoy a different venue for all of you.”

Starscream looked down at the doctor cleaning his pede again. He had not wanted to think about the consequences of a ‘situation’ happening if they had all been free to wander. He refused to admit that Prowl’s _stated_ reason was the real reason, but he knew…

Well, he knew this situation could not have been reversed. Had an Autobot officer and family defected, Megatron would have ordered a memory wipe and loyalty coding on all the defectors. He would never have allowed them asylum without it. Starscream shuddered. “They will go. They’ll want to, but even if they don’t want to, I’ll convince them.”

“Thank you, Starscream. As I said, your efforts are welcome and appreciated,” Prowl replied. Then to Ratchet, he continued, “Officer Ratchet, for their safety, Prime will need you to activate the seekers’ weapons systems again.”

“What -- !” Starscream jerked his head up to stare at Prowl.

Ratchet shrugged, not looking up from his work. “Yeah, yeah. They can all come up here tomorrow for that and their shoes.”

“Thank you.” Prowl nodded to both of them then turned away and walked towards his goons.

Starscream watched him in shock. When he looked down at Ratchet again, the doctor spoke, “I’ll have Wheeljack make three sets. I’ll need their measurements, if they’re different.”

“I can send those to you via the ship’s intranet, yes?”

“You can do that.” Ratchet looked up, hands stilling at their task. “You aren’t surprised. About…”

“About threats? No. It’s milder than I expected,” Starscream admitted after a pause. He liked Ratchet better than Prowl. The doctor didn’t play games. “I mean no one has actually tried. I know he’s not truly being the busted crankshaft I’ve accused him of being. But... “

“...if he’s letting you have that outlet, you’re not above taking it.”

“No.”

“Right. Let me finish, then you can visit your trine.”

“Thank you.”

On his release from Ratchet’s surprisingly tender mercies, Starscream headed down to the ship’s bowels with the goons in tow. Not to what passed for the Autobots’ brig, although it was technically on the same deck. The actual brig of the vessel had not survived the crash, so all the Autobots' unwilling guests ended up in fortified quarters amidships on the bottom deck several measures back from where the brig had been.

To Starscream’s lasting surprise, Skywarp and Thundercracker had been put in that makeshift cell only until something else had been completed within the actual rock of the mountain. Apparently, the colorfully named Slag had taken a strange liking to Skywarp. Somehow, Slag had organized his brothers to dig out more comfortable quarters for his new friend out of the mountain rock.

Starscream had never understood how Skywarp could make friends wherever he went.

Since the beginning of this dubious friendship, Starscream often saw Slag in those quarters with Skywarp. Ostensibly a guard, Slag mostly wrestled with Skywarp, while in his beast mode, and playfully chewed on the seeker's armor and wings. These were the best times for Skywarp, since they had followed Starscream here.

Skywarp did not take to captivity.

This wasn’t a surprise. Teleportation disabled, locked with Thundercracker in the depths of a mountain that rumbled around him... No, Starscream wasn't surprised in the least that Skywarp had begun to chew on the scenery. Or at least to reciprocally chew on Slag. Starscream found himself twitching in time with Skywarp's endless pacing when Slag wasn't there, and that made him almost welcome the huge mech’s presence.

In contrast, Thundercracker sulked.

Thundercracker glared at Starscream, when he visited the rocky quarters they shared. He glared when Starscream snapped at Skywarp. He glared when Starscream told them about his day. He glared when Starscream brought their rations down to them. He glared whenever he saw Starscream, and Starscream wanted to blame him for it. He did.

But Thundercracker and Skywarp would not be here if not for him, would they?

Thinking hard about his agreement with Beachcomber and Skyfire and his day trip slogging through the local wilderness, Starscream watched Slag with Skywarp on the floor. Lying on his side, the huge mech mouthed Skywarp's ailerons, and Starscream worried about how wickedly sharp tip of that beak looked. Skywarp, on the other hand, laid on his front and picked plant matter out of the second set of Slag's weird pedes. Kicking his own in the air, Skywarp’s right heel thruster tapped Slag in the flaring structure behind the alt mode's head.

"So, I've been stomping around the countryside today," Starscream said to Thundercracker.

Thundercracker glared at him, slid further down into his chair, and brooded in Starscream's direction.

Starscream vented and went on, "I've been mapping the magnetic variations surrounding the volcano, and noting local altitudes for each. The little geologist, Beachcomber, thought to do them separately, but it’s as easy to get both in one trip. The humans' equipment cannot read those metrics. Well, not to the degree we can. They’re simple organics. Anyway, Prime’s secretary asked if you might want to walk outside since you have the same sensory suite I do, and he thought you could help with the mapping. They are worried about the volcano, since it rumbled. Thought this would be a good way to start watching the landscape. See if we all needed to evacuate. I told him you would help."

Skywarp looked up from his self-appointed task, and Thundercracker actually sat up. The latter snarled, "You what?"

"I told him that you would help me track the information. You can do this as well as I can. It might just be walking, but at least it’s outside. Frag you, I know you think I don't care about you, but I never wanted you locked up," Starscream growled. "You want to walk outside or not?"

"Please?" Skywarp's whisper cracked through the tension hard enough to make Starscream wince. "We can go outside? You mean it?"

"They want us to work for them," Thundercracker muttered, slamming a hand down on the table between him and Starscream. "I didn't sign up for this --"

"You followed me, Thunder. I didn't make you two come here," Starscream snapped back.

"Shut up!" Skywarp yelled at both of them. "I wanna go outside. What do they want?"

“We can’t fly,” Starscream said and slumped. Their wings canted down to match his. Strangely comforted by the unconscious mimicry, Starscream shifted in his chair to lean closer to Thundercracker. Thundercracker vented, but he didn’t pull away. Starscream tapped his fingers on the table. “But we can walk around with a guard. They want a complete altitude map of every strongly magnetic point in the area for several miles. Their medic and that crazy engineer are making fittings for our pedes. I… Well, I sink into the damned slag that passes for ground here, and Ratchet got very angry about helping to clean my thrusters.”

“They _will_ let us walk? Outside?” Skywarp’s voice wavered uncertainly, and Starscream flinched. He had not wanted them to follow him. But he also had not wanted to leave them behind. Starscream had known they would follow him when he left. Here, they had been held prisoner to his good behavior. There, they had been held accountable for his bad behavior.

Did Starscream even know how to make a good decision?

“Yes,” Starscream promised them. “They will let us all walk outside. They don’t like the mountain’s rumbling any more than we do. I told them how we handled it… Well, before. Beachcomber got their Prime and his secretary to agree, since we already have the instrumentation, that we were the best candidates.”

“They have fliers,” Thundercracker reminded him.

“Yes. But Prime’s secretary doesn’t want to spare them from their posts,” Starscream muttered. Not what Prowl had said, but Starscream didn’t care what Prowl _said_. “And since it got me out, and it will get you out, I wasn’t going to remind him who he trusted more.”

Thundercracker hesitated then grabbed Starscream’s hand. Dermal plating creaked, and Starscream hissed. Before he could take his trine partner to task, Thundercracker said, “Thank you. For getting them to let us out, too.”

“I know,” Starscream whispered back. “We’re not meant to be caged under rock or steel. We’re meant for the stars.”

“Is he worth this, Star?” Thundercracker asked. “We were safe. We were free as anyone could be. But now…”

Starscream looked down at Slag and Skywarp, watching the huge Autobot delicately chew on Skywarp’s hip joint now. More like an oversized cyberhound than a mech looking for a lover, though he knew all the dinosaur-based Autobots were more intelligent than they let on. Slag handled Skywarp’s more fragile chassis with too much care to be stupid. But it struck Starscream that a similar thing could never have happened before.

“Were we safe? Or free?” Starscream tugged his hand out of Thundercracker’s grip to point at Skywarp and Slag. “You know as well as I do how dangerous _that_ would have been, Thunder. And that daft Prime didn’t just agree to let us walk outside, _he_ suggested that their medic should turn on all our weapons systems again. For our safety.”

Thundercracker and Skywarp both stiffened and stared at Starscream. Thundercracker frowned then muttered the question Starscream could see in both their faces. “Our weapons?”

“We have an appointment in the local morning. You know _this_ would never happen if an Autobot defected to the Decepticons,” Starscream said, jabbing a finger at Thundercracker. “You know what he did to the Constructicons.”

“I know.” Thundercracker shuddered.

Skywarp shoved Slag back, and the huge mech stopped grooming him. Skywarp rolled awkwardly over and sat up with Slag shoving his snout under Skywarp’s arm to help. Once seated on his aft, Skywarp wrapped a hand around one of Slag’s horns, and Slag heaved a powerful vent. Startling Starscream, Slag spoke, “Him Prime smart. Him not say no because him can. Not like Grimlock. Say no because him got good reasons.”

“And you think he’s got a good reason to trust _all_ of us now?” Starscream muttered.

“You seekers don’t like Megatron. Don’t like _us Autobots_ either, but don’t like him Megatron more. You Star love him Skyfire.” Slag rolled the shoulders of his beast mode then dropped his head into Skywarp’s lap. “You seekers not fly away. Him Prime know.”

His partners’ nervous, howling laughter covered Starscream’s angry sputter. Neither of his partners would meet his gaze, as the uncomfortable silence of so many nights returned. He had abandoned them for that love, and they had not quite forgiven him. He stood up and turned to leave.

A hand on his wrist stopped him, and Starscream didn’t know who was more startled, him or Thundercracker. Lifting his gaze from their hands, he met first one partner’s optics, then the other’s. Turning his hand in Thundercracker’s grip, Starscream returned it. “We were closer. Weren’t we? Before we joined the _Cause_. Do you… Do you think we could be again?”

“I don’t know,” Thundercracker said after a moment. “Don’t know if you’ll get back what you had with your Skyfire, either. But we’re all here now. We have to find some way forward, don’t we?”

He let Starscream go, and Starscream took his chance to escape. What had he done?

After the next day’s trek through the wilds of this corner of this planet, Wheeljack startled Starscream by inviting him up to the open lab to discuss some of Starscream’s observations and how to understand the readings. The gesture surprised him, though Wheeljack was an endearingly friendly mech. He accepted the invitation to work while the Dinobots promised to help his trine partners climb the mountain.

Almost, Starscream felt jealous.

The open lab proved to be exactly that, on arrival. Within the heavily damaged forward section of the ship, this area included makeshift railings around the ledge. Starscream could see the corridor below them, and a glimpse of an upper floor from the work table Perceptor had set up for his and Wheeljack’s arrival.

When the Prime’s deep, rich voice jarred him out of the discussion, Starscream jumped. “Good evening, Starscream!”

He could just see the Prime approaching in the deck below the open lab. Starscream detected a distinct bounce in Optimus’ step, too. Narrowing his optics, Starscream nodded absently to Wheeljack and Perceptor before he walked to the improvised railing around the gaping hole in the floor. His optics drew upward to follow the damage through two more decks. All with similar railing welded into place, made from scavenged hull segments.

Starscream thought again how lucky it was that Wheeljack promised that his _private_ lab had been spared in their crash.

He grabbed the rail and leaned over it to watch the Prime stop by the rough ladder that lead down from the open lab. “Yes, Prime?”

“Skyfire and Beachcomber are returning from their trip. I thought you would like to come with me to greet them,” Prime called up to him.

Starscream swore he heard laughter in the mech’s voice, too. Pounding through the aging ash flow and scrubland with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had worn on Starscream’s limited patience. Thundercracker had not been pleased to have Ironhide and a small fellow called Brawn following him around, either. Skywarp, on the other hand, had been delighted to stomp around with Slag and Wheeljack.

On the other hand, even Thundercracker agreed walking was better than being cooped up.

“I must thank you for thinking of me,” Starscream sneered then shook himself. It did not actually pay to be mean to their damn Prime. Everyone else looked at him like he had kicked a volt cat. “I would like to see Skyfire, yes.”

“Good, good. The hangar doors are on this deck, if you’ll come down…”

“I know where the damn doors are,” Starscream muttered, just loud enough for the Prime to hear. Eons-old reflexive paranoia twitched along his cables in an aborted flinch. The Autobots had been prone to strange notions about what went on among the Decepticons, but Megatron’s temper was simple fact for everyone.

Prime laughed. Starscream found himself relaxing as the mech’s rich voice filled the open lab as much as it did the corridor the Prime stood in. Starscream didn’t think the mech’s voice was fair. Something in its harmonics disturbed him combined with the Prime’s intelligence and interpersonal skills.

Their Prime sounded like the home Starscream had never truly known.

Starscream made his way down the ladder and ignored the complaints of Prowl’s goons. When Starscream reached the lower deck, he heard the Prime rumble, “It’s all right, Sideswipe. Sunstreaker. I can handle Starscream.”

“Sir,” Sideswipe began, his expression pinched.

“I can handle the commanders, too,” Optimus Prime chuckled. “It will be fine, you two. Have an afternoon to yourselves for a change. Combat-ready personnel are _supposed_ to be off duty between drills and maneuvers. Go on. And tell Prowl he can lecture me later. Come along, Starscream. And put your tongue back in your head.”

Starscream started and whirled around to face Optimus Prime. He bristled at the much larger mech looming over him, hands on hips. The outer corners of the Prime’s optics crinkled, and Optimus slagging Prime wrapped a companionable arm around the tall intake vents built into Starscream’s shoulders. The Prime pulled him along, ignoring his squawks of protest and the twins’ raucous laughter.

“You don’t have to sulk the whole way, you know.” The Prime murmured two corridors later. He did not release Starscream.

“I can walk myself,” Starscream muttered back.

“I know that. I won’t hurt you,” Optimus said. “The more I treat you like anyone else here, the faster everyone else will treat you the same, you know.”

“Am I supposed to take that to mean _you_ believe me?”

“I never doubted you, Starscream. Oh!”

Starscream stumbled in surprise, and Optimus brought his free hand around to balance Starscream and keep them both on their pedes. Straightening, Starscream sputtered and shoved at the Prime’s arms to free himself. “That’s ridiculous! You can’t be that much of a dim spark --”

“Ratchet speaks for you, you know.”

Starscream snapped his jaw closed and looked away.

“Ratchet is the wisest mech I know, Starscream. Maybe he’s not the smartest, but he’s seen plenty of wounds from your lasers and missiles. More importantly, he knows exactly what a null burn looks like,” Optimus went on. He released Starscream to tug the seeker in front of him. His hands felt heavy where they grasped the outside of Starscream’s shoulders. “ _And_ he knows what effects null rays have on sparks. So does your Skyfire.”

“He’s not mine,” Starscream whispered. “And you can’t prove anything…”

“I don’t need to, Starscream. I don’t need to prove anything. My point now, though, is that _you_ have. We both know Megatron was not always like this. Just as we’re not who we used to be. Are we? But you’ve changed less than you think. You put him in a temporary stasis lock and gave him to us, then took the leap after him when Megatron tried to punish you both.”

“Spare me the maudlin chit chat, Prime. I do nothing for anyone’s benefit but my own,” Starscream muttered in response to the Prime’s naive assumption. He never made such _helpful_ decisions. “Can we _please_ get to the hangar now?”

“We certainly can.”

Starscream flatly ignored the laughter ringing through the Prime’s voice.

The Prime understood nothing. Starscream had not been trying to save Skyfire. He had been trying to silence that mewling, crying voice in his head. The ghost of himself that had died under the ice with Skyfire haunted Starscream still. He heard it speak with Skyfire's voice.

The Prime guided him out to the cleared landing strip in front of the decrepit _Ark_ , keeping a companionable(ish) hand settled comfortably around his left vent intake hood. Starscream's gaze drew up immediately, finding that singular growing speck. Unrepentant, his spark lurched. His wings rattled with longing to rise up and greet Skyfire; to welcome him in a manner suited to the flighted. Not standing groundlocked like all the fools standing around him.

"Go on," he heard in his audial.

A gentle nudge pushed him forward before Prime’s hand fell away. Startled, he turned back to the Prime.

"Go on. That's why _I_ came to get you. I know a _few_ things about flight frames. I promise no one will shoot you. Go." Prime nudged him forward and stepped away.

That was all Starscream needed to hear. He leapt upward, folding into his alternate frame and firing his thrusters. Not shots followed him up, and he hailed Skyfire, happier than he had been in ages.

Skyfire hailed him, surprised, across the comm. Larger and slower, Skyfire had been constructed with a stamina Starscream didn't possess. The tetrajet mode standard to seekers on Cybertron emphasized maneuverability and speed in their homeworld's unique environment. Their new mode, based on a human jet, had proved no different on this world.

With physical speech impossible at speed, Skyfire's laughter echoed across Starscream's comm. He didn't alter his trajectory as Starscream closed the distance. With a passenger, Starscream didn't expect him to actually engage the dance. Skyfire held himself steady, and Starscream rolled around him.

Not even spotting Red Alert on the landing strip when he returned could dampen his spirits. The little mech shouted angrily at Optimus. Showing off, Starscream transformed and used his wings and thrusters to stick the landing instead of staying the course with a more staid approach. Skyfire laughed. Even the Prime clapped. And once Beachcomber had disembarked, Skyfire stood up and hugged him.

Maybe, just maybe, Starscream didn't always make terrible choices, after all.

After squeezing in a fast meal shared with Starscream, Beachcomber and Skyfire had grabbed Perceptor and Wheeljack to correlate the data Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp had walked out for them. And Starscream had watched them walk away. Holding his wings at a stiff angle, Starscream tried not to let it ruin his day. He had gotten to fly, after all. With neither a Decepticon ambush nor confused Autobot to fire on him, that should have been enough.

He tried to tell himself it was.

Skyfire looked back, at least, and the soft bewilderment in his gaze told Starscream that he had grown dusty again. Old and different. Meaner. He never wanted to tell Skyfire what he had done to survive all this time. Now, he almost wished Skyfire were not so observant, so intelligent. Skyfire saw the Autobots' wariness too clearly.

Jazz had silently appeared when Optimus Prime had gone to "go calm Prowl down" after Starscream and Skyfire had landed. The Prime had at least had the courtesy to take Red Alert with him, but Jazz always unnerved him. He could not put his finger on exactly _why_ , either. He doubted it was the certainty that, all by himself, Jazz could take those horrible twins out in under five minutes.

It couldn't be _that_.

When Jazz reset his vocalizer and canted his head after the party of Starscream's only peers on this derelict excuse for a base, Starscream snapped. "What? I can't watch now? Afraid their afts are going to tell me things I shouldn't know?"

"Easy, mech," Jazz said. He grinned at Starscream, lifting his hands up, palms out. "The collection of fine afts walking that-a-way couldn't tell you nothin', unless someone's misfiring. But I was told we were attending the meeting."

"I beg your pardon?" Starscream reset his audials and optics in surprise.

"Aren't we going to the meetin' over yonder? Number-crunching and what not."

"I'm... I'm allowed to go?"

"Well, this is what you did, right? Study new worlds and stuff? I was told you're better at straight up chemistry, but you _took_ the readings, so I'd assume you could help them do the thing so Prowl can make all his cogs spin over the report." Jazz shrugged, hands still up, and his grin only widened. "Red and Prowl don't want you collecting intel, but they aren't stupid. We need to know. You can help. You want to, right? Your wings are practically vibrating."

"It's boring sitting around," Starscream muttered.

"And a bored smart aft is a danger to everyone," Jazz snickered. "We going?"

Starscream turned and fled after Skyfire. Beachcomber hailed him with a wave. Wheeljack offered Jazz a seat at the table when the pair caught up to the meeting. Jazz accepted it, propped his pedes in an empty chair and promptly slouched down, as if to drop into a light recharge cycle there. Starscream frowned at him, but the Autobots’ science staff ignored this as if it were normal and went on with the meeting. That helped Starscream put the mech out of his mind.

The meeting itself took the troubles of the day off his mind.

Whatever time had passed between his youth and the present, the shared dialogue and planning had been what he had lived for, once. Ancient dust and spilled lifeblood washed away. If he could not forget these were not seekers in Vos, he could tell himself that it didn’t matter. These mechs were friendly, if not friends, and he was welcome here.

For a time, he didn’t see the eons stretched out between them in Skyfire’s gaze.

After the meeting, when Wheeljack and Beachcomber had gone to meet with the Prime and his secretary, Skyfire pulled him close as they walked through the _Ark_ ’s corridors. Starscream ignored his black and white shadow to revel in Skyfire’s warmth. He remembered cozy walks across campus grounds. He remembered wild flights over glittering cities. He remembered the condemnation of his betters and peers. He remembered whispered words of retribution.

For pride and pain, Starscream had helped tear their world apart.

The Prime understood nothing. Reflected in Skyfire’s bright gaze, Starscream had seen the horror of himself. Starscream had killed the mech Skyfire had loved, over the eons. He had let himself bleed misery and hate. Shooting Skyfire with his null ray, leaving him for the Autobots to take in -- Starscream had thought Skyfire’s memory could save the mech Starscream had been.

Watching Megatron attack Skyfire, Starscream had felt every blow. It was nothing new to watch Megatron beat a mech for insubordination because Megatron could not command the respect of anyone. But every landed blow, every shouted insult connected backwards. Starscream heard the condemnation that had driven him to Megatron’s side in Megatron’s voice.

But Skyfire didn’t whisper retribution.

Once, Starscream’s world had fallen apart in misery. Then, Starscream had torn his world apart for fury. This time, he had broken it for love. And for the first time, he looked at the future with as much hope as apprehension.


End file.
